Time for one of my intermittent efforts to catch up on the greats of science fiction. For SciFiMonth (ahem, and the Hive prompt for Dancing with Fantasy and SciFi) I chose Arthur C Clarke’s first novel – one of his earliest and apparently one of his best.
2.5 stars
A tide-locked world of endless day and night. A young woman banished into the freezing dark to die. A slim chance to forge an unlikely alliance. As the planet of January slides into a climate apocalypse, is it possible to turn away from the past and embrace a new future?
Desmond Coke fled Jamaica with his former comrades hot on his heels. He must cross an alternate America, where the Free Republic of Tejas, the Albion Empire and the Five Civilized Tribes may all offer sanctuary – or may seek to take advantage of the rare opportunity Desmond’s young ward Lij represents…
As Binti struggles to adjust to the zinariya, she is overwhelmed by visions of her family in mortal danger. With no sign of Okwu, she and Mwinyi rush back. Can the master harmonizer who sits at the nexus of so many cultures bring peace, or is her legacy to be only conflict?
